One of the best things about Business School is the amazing friends I’ve made. This past weekend three of us headed to south Florida to celebrate finishing the semester. Laura, who splits her time between D.C. and Boca, flew down on Thursday and on Friday, Sloane, Zoya and I flew down to join her. She picked us up at the Fort Lauderdale airport and took us to dinner at a restaurant called El Camino in Delray.

Laura always knows the best restaurants, bars, and bakeries so it’s no surprise that the place was great. It had a fun atmosphere, good service, delicious food, and amazing margaritas. Delray has great nightlife with people spilling out of bars. We caught a little live music, had another drink, and headed over to Laura’s beach house for the night. She gave us a tour of the house and the private beach, then we all headed to bed.

We woke leisurely the next morning and went to enjoy breakfast at a beachfront golf course. The restaurant, Al Fresco, was a gorgeous yellow house with double wrap-around porches. We sat on the upper level, facing the ocean, and enjoyed a mimosa and breakfast. If you’re ever in the Palm Beach area, I highly recommend this place. The breakfast buffet, including an omelet station, was only $15 and as you can see the view alone is worth that. Plus, the waiters are really good photographers.

After breakfast, Laura took us to Worth Avenue for some shopping and then to The Breakers Hotel. As you can see in the photo above, The Breakers is absolutely stunning. It sits right on the water and has beautiful architecture with exquisite detail. The ceilings in particular took my breath away. She showed us around a bit and then we stopped for a drink at one of the bars there. You can’t really tell from the picture below, but the bar was an aquarium with live fish in it. It was fun to watch the clown fish play under our drinks.

That afternoon we said goodbye to Laura and headed down to Miami. We checked into the Loews Hotel in South Beach and changed into bikinis. Before anything else, we needed some lunch. Sloane had the perfect spot- Taquiza – a taco stand that was practically across the street. We walked up and I immediately spotted a woman kneading blue tortilla dough in the back. Handmade tortillas are always a good sign. I ordered a few tacos, and they were all simple and delicious. They were ready in minutes, and gone in a few bites.

With some food in our bellies, we spent the next couple of hours partying in the sun. Eventually the sun started to set and it was time for dinner. I won’t recommend the dinner restaurant, since it made Sloane and I sick and put us out of commission for the night.

Fortunately, we woke up feeling much, much better so we were able to take advantage of the complementary banana boat ride offered by the hotel. They gave us silly helmets, but it was an amazing time. It was a real challenge to hold on as we bounced across the waves. By the end, my eyes stung from the salt water and my knuckles were white, but I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

We spent the rest of the day lounging by the pool and drinking pina coladas, until we had to finally call and Uber and head to the airport.

It was such a fun and refreshing weekend, I feel like a new woman. We’ve all solemnly sworn to do this trip again when the weather here in D.C. turns cold.